Dxun
Dxun (pronounced /'dʌksɪn/), also known as the Demon Moon, was the largest of four moons that orbited the Inner Rim world ofOnderon. Like its parent planet, it was covered almost entirely by dense jungles that were populated by many species of fierce, predatory animals. Despite being temperate and habitable, the jungles of Dxun posed major challenges for its inhabitants. Due to its constant rains and wet climate, mechanical devices did not last long and required continuous maintenance. Moreover, the jungles were inhabited by many dangerous predators such as bomas,cannoks, drexls, maalraas, skreevs, andzakkegs, forcing the moon's inhabitants to be armed at all times. Though considered a moon of Onderon, Dxun and Onderon were almost sister planets. They were so close to one another that it was only a short shuttle ride between them, and they even shared a bit of the same atmosphere. Every year, during Dxun's summer season, the atmospheres of Onderon and Dxun would connect. This allowed the vicious Drexls to wander and settle on Onderon, thus laying the foundations for the Beast Wars. At the end of the Beast Wars, Jedi Master Arca Jeth decided to relocate the sarcophagus of Freedon Nadd, the former Dark Lord of the Sith and king of Onderon, from Onderon to Dxun, in an attempt to prevent future Sith from drawing on its power. The plan worked for the most part, though two of history's most pivotalSith Lords, Exar Kun and Darth Bane, would later manage to enter the tomb of Freedon Nadd on Dxun. At the end of the Great Sith War in 3996 BBY, Mandalore the Indomitable, leader of the Mandalorians, was eaten alive by the vicious beasts of Dxun. After assuming the leadership of the Mandalorians, Mandalore the Ultimate made Dxun his stronghold, from which he planned his attack on the Galactic Republic. In 3963 BBY, the Mandalorian Wars expanded into a galaxy-wide conflict when the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders began their invasion of the Republic. From their headquarters on Dxun, Mandalore's forces attacked and took nearby Onderon in mere hours. A battle with the Republic forces took place on the moon, but it was little more that a rear-guard holding action by the Republic. Years later, after the Jedi Revan and Malak had entered the war and pushed the Mandalorian forces back to their original Dxun staging-grounds, a far more bloody battle was fought. The Republic attempted to capture the Mandalorianheadquarters on Dxun. Republic forces managed to defeat the Mandalorians, but the victory came at a heavy cost. The Mandalorian outposts were entrenched and well defended by hidden mines, traps, anti-air turrets, and the ferocious inhabitants of the jungle itself. During the bloody battle, the Republic lost ten soldiers for every Mandalorian killed. The Jedi Exile, who was in command of the battle, was forced to sacrifice dozens of her soldiers, sending them on a suicidal charge to disable the minefield that was the last obstacle keeping them away from the Mandalorian fortress. After the battle, the Republic military did not bother to demolish many structures that the Mandalorians had built; nor did they uncover the many hidden weapons caches providently left in case the Mandalorians were someday to return. In 3956 BBY, Canderous Ordo took the title of Mandalore and gathered a handful of Mandalorians, most of whom were mercenaries at the time, on the Dxun moon, in the rebuilt headquarters of the old Mandalore. There they regrouped, concealing their presence from both the Republic and the native Onderonians, silencing all scouts who came anywhere near their encampment. Canderous hoped that, one day, the Mandalorians of Dxun would regain their former glory. The Jedi Exile landed in the jungles of Dxun when her ship, the Ebon Hawk, was severely damaged in a space battle over Onderon where Republic forces commanded by Colonel Tobin attacked them unprovoked, almost definitely under General Vaklu's orders. While exploring the jungle, the Exile was attacked by three of the Zhug brothers, who were also stranded by the space battle and looking to collect on her bounty. Later, the Exile was discovered by a group of Mandalorians, who brought her to the new Mandalore. She needed to get to Onderon to search for Jedi Master Kavar, but Canderous told her that she would need to prove herself first. The Exile performed several tasks for the Mandalorians and proved herself honorable, and Canderous made good on his word, providing a shuttle and accompanying her to the city of Iziz. When the Onderon Civil War erupted, the Mandalorians fought alongside the Jedi Exile, despite, or perhaps because of her involvement in their defeat at Malachor V. Canderous provided the Exile with a repaired Basilisk war droid (several of its minor systems were malfunctioning) so that she could get into Iziz. Meanwhile, the Mandalorians and a party of the Exile's companions headed into the jungle to fight General Vaklu's Sith allies, who landed on Dxun via a craft of a KT-400 military droid carrier's design. They found the Sith inside and outside the Tomb of Freedon Nadd, where they were conducting a ritual to keep Onderon beasts under the control of Sith beastmasters. The party started at a tunnel where they had to get through a minefield and disable a motion sensing alarm for alerting the Sith of a hostile presence. After, doing that, they disabled a power generator that controlled the droid sentry force of the Tomb and continued to neutralize three Sith troopers and a Sith officer who were guarding a terminal, what looked like a storage shed and the Sith's transport near the Tomb entrance. They then initiated a program via the terminal to order the mechanical sentry force (droids and turrets) to attack all hostiles and friendlies in the area, reducing the amount of the Sith the Exile's party's needed to take care of. The party continued to charge the Tomb entrance, which was heavily guarded by Dark Jedi Apprentices, Sith troopers and Sith Commandos—all of which were taken out and allowed the Exile's party to proceed into the Tomb itself. After battling Sith Commandos, Sith troopers, Sith officers, Sith Lords, Sith War Droid, Bomabeasts, and Dark Jedi Apprentices to clear the tomb of all enemies, the party opened a locked door via an ancient terminal and met two Dark Jedi Masters and a Sith Master performing a ritual, which would put the Bomas under control of the Sith force attacking Onderon. They managed to accomplish their task before the Exile's party reached them. Following the confrontation, the Sith Master attempted to corrupt the party's leader to the dark side of the Force but was unsuccessful. The three Sith then went on the offensive; however, they were bested, resulting in their death. The party leader then removed Freedon Nadd's lightsaber from his sarcophagus and met up with Xarga who brought the Exile's party back to the Ebon Hawk and told them of the Exile's successful mission to bring peace to Onderon. Millennia later, in 1000 BBY, the Sith Lord Darth Bane, after the Seventh Battle of Ruusan, crash-landed on Dxun. He immediately recognized it as a world infused with the dark side. It was here, in the well of darkness near Freedon Nadd's tomb, that Bane acquired orbalisk armor. By the time of Darth Bane, while the tomb and the well ranked as significant Dark Side sites, the entire moon had become a dark side site. Between the eras of Exar Kun and Darth Bane, Dxun was a common pilgrimage for those attempting to master the Dark Side of the Force.4 The image of Dxun in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords Dxun/Onderon turret minigame bears a resemblance to a mosaic of Mars images taken by Viking 1 Orbiter in February 22, 1980.5